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More adventures at Priest River, ID. ? ? ?

We had an awesome time with the Miller family on Priest River. Kayak’s ?, canoe’s ?‍♀️, jet skis ?, tubes, a lightening storm ⛈️, and lots of cousins made for an awesome time in a beautiful location. Almost too enjoyable/fun/relaxing/peaceful… If that’s possible. -Tevya

#travelfamily #watersports

The kids weren’t too impressed by Mt Rushmore. The fact that we couldn’t get too close because a lot of the visitor area was under construction, probably contributed to that feeling.
We got there, walked as close as we could and were admiring the monument. The kids were like “Cool. Can we have ice cream?” So we did.

We stopped at Bear World in between National Parks, the kids really ate up the experience! Colter got to take the pictures and sit in the front, Ellie can now confirm that bears are real, Loo loved the buffalo (they are separated by a fence on the property), and Ez was happy to be out of his carseat as we slowly rolled along all glued to the windows.

Saw the baaaaadlands. That little dot on the top of the ridge is my oldest billygoat. ?

“What if?” is the main concern we get from people when they learn about our travel lifestyle plans. I was talking with @scottrras about it and he made the excellent point that the game of “what if?” is really futile because it can extend to anything: “what if you stay at home and never go anywhere and bad things still happen?” The concerns we get most are things like: “What if bombing starts while you’re in Israel?” “What if the cartel kidnaps your kids in Mexico?” “What if things don’t go as planned?” The problem is they’re all fear-based questions and assume a certain lack of ability to respond, if something does go wrong. Jill and I have chosen (or at least try to) make decisions based on bravery, positivity, responsibility, and faith. We don’t want to make decisions based on fear, pessimism, blame, and doubt. If we revert to those, then we relinquish any control or ability to influence people or situations we encounter. We might as well lock ourselves up and wait for the end of the world.

Reflecting on my conversation with Scott, I realized the ultimate and most truly impacting “what if?” is: “what if I get to the end of my life and find I’ve wasted it playing fear-based ‘what if?’ games, instead of really living?” This photo is also from Wed. It’s the 2nd item I crossed off my bucket list while in Chicago that day: visiting the site of the 1893 World’s Fair (World’s Columbian Exposition), where the original Ferris wheel was unveiled to the world. That original wheel is now in London and is much larger than the one that stands in its place. But we rode on it anyway, and looked out over the few remaining buildings from the World’s Fair 126 years ago. It’s a fascinating event with big impact on the history of the US. -Tevya

#travelfamily #nomadfamily #worldsfair #chicago

Wed. we went to Chicago and crossed 2 items off my bucket list. The first was the Chicago Field museum, where we saw the Man-eaters of Tsavo. I’ve wanted to go there and see them since reading J.H. Patterson’s autobiographical book about them as a teenager.

The field museum was awesome. Colter said he wanted to be a museum night-guard on the way in (Night at the Museum movie). Then on the way out commented that it was really cool, but not fun in the way he expected it to be. -Tevya

At Old World Wisconsin the kids got a glimpse of life for the early settlers to this region (and context for what parts of life were like for Laura in Little House in the Woods!). They watched a blacksmith pound metal into hooks, rode old fashioned bicycles, tried on wooden shoes in the Scandinavian village, tried soda water, and tested out old-time school readers in the schoolhouse.
#learnaswego #worldschooling

The littlest Washburn turned 1 today! The temps for a lake day are better tomorrow, so we’ll spend a day at the beach for him then. Ezra is the sweetest little thing, almost as angelic as that white hair makes him look ??

We made it to the land of lakes, and oh how we love it! We tried out Pike Lake for Tevya’s birthday. A big crowd came out to celebrate with us ?, we survived a torrential downpour for 20 minutes, and then kept on enjoying the day. Summertime is the best! #38looksgoodonyou #4thofjuly?? #hbd❤️